I'll feel pessimistic like this, but then something like Tinfoil Chat [0] comes along and sparks my interest again. It's still all just theoretical to me, but at least I don't feel so bad about things.
With a little bit of hardware you could get a lot of assurance back: "Optical repeater inside the optocouplers of the data diode enforce direction of data transmission with the fundamental laws of physics."
Windows Firewall Control, now owned by Malwarebytes, adds notification on connection attempt as a feature, while leaving windows firewall running intact.
I've never been fully satisfied with software firewalls, but WFC comes close.
Us kids loved it. Spent a lot of time configuring rooms, theming them, exploring all the features. The most intriguing one was a mailroom, but that's because it asked to configure your modem and email server settings which I couldn't do. Had separate profiles for each of us in the family and our friends; but we soon learned you could reset anyone's password by saying you forgot it. Once the griefing started it lost some appeal, but I still have only fond memories of MS Bob.
The point is that regardless if you're negative, neutral, or positive of others using data for profit, you would hold those who use it altruistically higher.
I hold both of them high enough. As Aaron, I did my good share of book/articles piracy, even before it was online (here in Mexico it was veery common to Xerox and share whole books with students in the 80s and 90s).
I understand, Aaron became a martyr; even though he died due to depression and not for "a cause". I applaud what he achieved as a person.
With a little bit of hardware you could get a lot of assurance back: "Optical repeater inside the optocouplers of the data diode enforce direction of data transmission with the fundamental laws of physics."
[0] https://github.com/maqp/tfc